The Tortoise and the Hare - An Apriltello Halloween
by Queequegg
Summary: One Halloween evening, April brings Donatello along to a college costume party. It's a night neither is soon to forget. Just a little fluffy one-shot to celebrate the holiday. Previously posted within my work 'Turtle Drabbles'. Cover Art by the lovely ladies of CreepyCatProductions - found on DA. Go check out their stuff!


**A/N:** I have posted this before, but it is hidden within a 'drabble' collection, so I thought I'd pull it out alone for new readers to find! Hope you enjoy, and Happy Halloween!

 **The Tortoise and the Hare - An Apriltello Halloween one-shot**

* * *

He watched her sway to the beat on the makeshift dance floor, a red Solo cup in one hand. She was singing along to the song, though the music in the crowded apartment was so loud no one could hear her. She laughed as both she and a tall Red Riding Hood perfected a ridiculous dance move from the music video, and Donnie couldn't help himself from smiling and shaking his head as he watched her.

"Whoah dude, sweet costume!" Came a drunken voice from behind him. And spinning around he was able to identify the college-aged man as a Space Heroes character.

"Thanks." Donnie smiled politely in his direction and tipped his head forward.

"Holy shit man, what kind of a mask is that?" The guy asked, becoming a little too inquisitive for Donnie's comfort.

So far April's assurance that the party would be dark and all the guests would be too drunk to be suspicious had held true. The lack of good lighting had so far dissuaded anything other than a few impressed words of praise. And it seemed the few well-placed pieces of duct tape that April had added to the edges of his shell had helped to sell the whole 'this is just a costume' farce.

* * *

Donnie tried his best to play the part of the aloof college kid and took a slow sip from his own red cup before answering. "It's special effects make-up, I have a buddy that works for a movie studio." He explained, watching the man nod as he accepted the lie.

"That's so awesome! What are you supposed to be, just some kind of a turtle?"

"I'm a tortoise." He corrected, before gesturing out at April dancing in the other room. Her grey cotton skirt spinning around as she rocked her hips, and her matching bunny ears now sitting a little lopsided on her head. "And that's my hare."

"You're with the hottie redhead? Nice." The star commander gave him an approving smack on the side oh his shell and took a swig from his beer bottle before wandering back off into the crowd.

Having noticed him pointing her out, the hare, who technically wasn't "his", made her way over to him; still dancing as she moved her way through the crowd.

"Is everything ok?" She asked, a little short of breath, her cheeks warm and pink from the alcohol and dancing.

"Oh yeah." He returned a smile. "That guy was just complimenting me for bringing with the 'hottie redhead'."

"Shut up!" She laughed, smacking his plastron playfully.

"He totally was." Donnie smiled back, finding that he rather enjoyed the drunk variation of his friend. She had become increasingly flirty and touchy-feeley as the night had progressed.

Leaving a hand on his front seemingly for balance, she used the other to raise the plastic cup to her lips and take another drink.

"How many of those have you had?" Donnie asked playfully as he reached out to fix her bunny ears.

"Not that many. Besides they hardly have anything in them." April tried to protest, but her giggles seemed to take over, ruining her argument.

Looking down at his own cup, emptied for only the second time, Donnie could feel the warm buzz from the alcohol washing over him. Sure, he never drank, but neither did April, especially considering that at 18 and 19 neither one of them were legally old enough to be doing so. He knew his tolerance was pretty low, but if he was feeling it, the 110 lb woman was definitely a few sheets to the wind.

"Are you having fun?" April asked. Her giggles having ended and she suddenly seemed serious. She looked up at him, her bright blue eyes sparkling despite the darkness of the room.

"Absolutely." Donnie replied, with a smile wide enough to reveal his gap.

They stared into one another's eyes for some time, and Donnie suddenly realized that he had an overwhelming urge to confess every romantic thought he had ever had about the woman in front of him. He made a mental note to himself that he needed to watch how much alcohol he consumed in her presence if it put him in an over-sharing kind of mood.

Thankfully before he could start saying something he might regret, the song shifted to a new upbeat tune that made April's eyes light up.

"Come dance with me!" She practically squealed, taking his empty cup out of his hand and placing both of them down on the nearest surface.

Having been avoiding the dance area the whole night, afraid it would draw a bit too much attention to himself in the small crowded NY apartment, he glanced around and realized that the majority of the guests were already dancing or were passed out in chairs around the room, too drunk to possibly wonder about the authenticity of his "costume".

Instead he simply nodded and let her take him by the hand, dragging him to the edge of the spasming crowd, into a corner with only a wall behind them and less prying eyes. Even in her inebriated state, she went out of her way to find an area she knew he'd feel more comfortable.

She tossed her head back in a silent laugh and began dancing along to the melody. They started out simply swaying, April's short skirt flapping up to reveal the black leggings underneath. Donnie watched as she swung her arms about and rocked her hips and tried his best to move in a similar way. Her lips moved as she sang along to the song. Listening to the unfamiliar lines blare from the speakers, Donnie soon became aware that the lyrics were quite suggestive.

With another sway of her hips, April turned around and squatted, pressing her rump back against his front as she ran her hands through her loose hair and slowly straightened up. When she reached full height, she spun back around, her body so close he could feel her warmth against him and she ran her flat palms up the top section of his plastron before lacing her fingers behind his neck.

Her proximity and suggestive movements caused Donnie to gulp back a wave of nerves and excitement. With her slender fingers still at the nape of his neck, she continued to sway to the beat. Feeling bolder than usual, he placed his hands on her hips, enjoying the sensation of her slender body moving beneath them as she began to subtly grind against him in rhythm to the song.

In the last year, after April had started attending one of the local colleges in the city and moved out of her Dad's apartment, they had started to hang out more regularly. It had been almost 8 months since the last time they had managed to save the world and life was finally starting to feel normal again. And the more Donatello had originally encouraged her to 'go be a college student' and try to be normal for a change, doing what college kids did, the more she seemed to draw in closer to him.

But even in all this time as the bonds of their friendship had grown stronger, it was only ever friendship. They had never done more than hold hands, exchange hugs and a brief kiss on the cheek ever so often. And Donatello had accepted that this was how it was going to be and he was happy with that. April O'Neil as his best friend was still more than he had ever hoped for, being who he was. He wasn't about to do anything to mess that up.

So as the songs continued to switch to the next one, and she continued to dance in an alluring manner, twisting her body in a provocative fashion, her hands running across his front and down his shell as she moved around him, his tipsy brain tried to make sense of things. _She's just dancing, simply having a good time. It's just the booze making her act like this._ He rationalized. _Look at all the other drunk people in this room, lots of them are dancing like this. It's what college kids do._

And while another glance around the room did confirm that there were other people indeed dancing in similar fashion, many of those other people were in a big group, apparently friends, dressed in corresponding costumes and laughing ever so often as they cracked themselves up. He kept searching the crowded room and landed on another couple that seemed to be focused entirely on themselves. Dressed as Jack Skellington and Sally, they had clearly arrived together and in the brief moment he watched them, their dancing quickly escalated to a heated make-out session.

He quickly diverted his gaze and landed back on April, her eyes hooded with heavy lids and a mischievous glint. She moved in closer to him, pushing herself up onto her tip toes, so that her lips were closer to his ear openings. He could smell the mix of alcohol and sweet punch on her warm breath as she leaned in to whisper. "Let's go get some fresh air."

Donnie nodded silently as she took his hand and lead him to the large window that opened onto a fire escape. The small platform already had a few people mingling on it, smoking cigarettes and chatting idly. The two pirates nearest the window gawked at Donnie as he moved past them, the harsh light from the streets lamps proving to show more details than the purple bulbs that had been scattered within the apartment.

They excused themselves as April pushed past the Captain Hook sitting on the stairs, pulling Donnie along as she ascended up to the next level.

"It doesn't go all the way to the roof." Hook called out disappointed.

"That's not gonna stop us." Donnie added quietly to April. They went up two more flights where the fire escape ended, a good 12 feet from the height of the rooftop. Donnie suavely scooped April up in one arm, and she hooked her hands behind his neck in a familiar fashion they had done many times and began to easily scale the wall, climbing up and over the edge to land on the roof.

The rooftop was thankfully empty, and the crisp fall air seemed extra cold compared to the squelching heat from all the bodies inside. The city was full of its usual noises, cars honking, people hollering, music filtering out from many open windows of the various nearby parties, but somehow it seemed eerily quiet after the loud thump of the bass and roar of the music from before.

The hypnotic moment that they had been caught up in seemed to have vanished. Donatello looked at his beautiful friend, her back was to him, the small white tuff of a rabbit's tail pinned to the back of her outfit. She pulled her grey hoodie tight and wrapped her arms around herself, and he wished for not the first time that he had an outer layer to offer her.

Trying to break the silence that had fallen between them, Donatello started up some small talk. "So, are you having fun?"

April turned and smiled at him, one of her honestly happy smiles that made her eyes light up and could warm his heart from a mile away. "You have no idea how much I've wanted to do that."

"Go to a Halloween party?" Donnie asked with a raised brow.

April shook her head ever so slightly. "Go to a party with my crush."

Donatello felt his breath escape him for a minute. _Did she just refer to me as her crush?_

She continued on before he could think of something to say. "I mean, I've tried to do as you suggested. Be a college kid, go to parties, act normal… but the entire time all I can do is think about you."

She moved in closer to him, laying her hands softly on his plastron as she looked up into his eyes. His heart felt as thought it was in his throat and without knowing how to otherwise react, he reached up with nervous fingers to tuck an errant strand of titian hair back behind her ear, before letting his hands fall down onto her hips again.

"When I saw the chance to finally bring you with me, I hopped on it." She giggled, rolling her eyes up to look at her bunny ears. "Pun intended, I guess."

Donatello could feel his heart sink a little as he listened to her explanation. "April, I… this is kind of a special occasion, and honestly kind of risky…" He couldn't stop himself from adding. "I can't typically bring you to parties or…"

He stopped talking when April pressed a finger to his lips. "Shh. That doesn't matter to me, OK?"

"But you just said—" He tried to mumble from beneath her finger, still on his lips.

"That was only part of it. The party was just a good excuse to spend the evening with you, and get the chance to do this."

"Do wha–" He started to ask as she sprang up onto her tip toes and with one hand wrapping around the back of his head, pulling him down to her height to replace the finger attempting to silence him with her own lips.

Her mouth met his and she instantly began moving in a delicate fashion, caressing her lips against him. He squeezed his eyes shut and took in the sensation of her fingers running up his neck and her warm body once again pressed against his front. Within moments she found the ideal angle for their differently shaped mouths and with a gentle teasing of her tongue, coaxed him to part just enough to allow her entrance. Her tongue began to dance with his own and he felt drunk all over again from the taste of her. He allowed one of his hands to run up into her hair, caressing the back of her neck and being rewarded with a moan from deep inside her chest.

They continued to kiss on the cold rooftop for what felt like hours and finally broke apart panting. April running her hands back down his front, resting right over where his elated heart frantically pumped beneath his scutes.

"I think the normal part of being in college that I was missing out on… was falling in love." April smiled up at him, and he felt as though his very being had just exploded with fireworks of joy.

"April, for so long, I've felt—"

She cut him off again. "I know. And all this time you've been patiently waiting."

"You're my best friend first, April." He nervously explained. "But I fell for you a long time ago, I didn't want anyone else, and I was willing to wait for as long as it took." He looked down into her face as he explained.

A sly smile seemed to cross her features at something he said. "Slow and steady wins the race, I guess." She all but giggled.

Donnie let out a guffaw-like laugh at her lame joke. "You are hysterical after a few drinks." He paused as he considered a terrible thought. "I just hope that you aren't regretting anything tomorrow."

April seemed to have been able to sense the doubt that he felt as the logical side of his brain started over thinking things.

"Hey now," She reached up to place a palm on his cheek, tenderly capturing his attention. "I may have had a little liquid courage tonight, but I've been wanting to say something for a while now. If I regret anything, it's that I didn't make a move sooner."

Donnie smiled and nodded, and with his own liquid courage running through his system, leaned down to capture her lips again in a fiery kiss.

Breaking apart, Donnie noticed a little shiver run over her.

"It's pretty cold out, did you want to go back to the party?" He asked.

She looked up with that mischievous smile back in place. "No. I think we should go back to my place and make up some lost time."

Donnie felt his cheeks heat up at her implication and couldn't stop what must have been the dopiest of grins from crossing his features. "I think that sounds great." He managed to respond through his dry throat, though he was pretty sure his voice cracked in the middle.

Once again he scooped her up into his arms to prepare to carry her across the rooftops and back to her small apartment. But just as he went to run, she reached up guiding his mouth down to hers and kissed him firmly on lips. "Thanks for making this the best night ever."

He smiled back. "Thank you! I mean, you have no idea how much I'VE wanted to do that as well."

"Kiss me?" April asked with a sparkle in her eyes.

"No." Donnie shook his head briefly. "Go to a Halloween party!"

April laughed and playfully smacked his arm. "Who's the hysterical one now?" She teased.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Happy Halloween, you dork."

"Happy Halloween."


End file.
